Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about Amsterdam, canal trips, and wax.

Our train is a 2 hour ride but since I turned you loose in the red light district I booked us on a later ride today. We leave at 9 am.

We're booked at the Hotel Sebastian's  . Set on Amsterdam’s Canal Belt, this chic, townhouse hotel is a 9-minute walk from a tram stop, 1 kilometer from the Red Light District and 3.5 kilometers from the Van Gogh Museum  . Featuring colorful or dramatic decor, the plush rooms range from cozy to airy, and offer free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs, minibars, and tea and coffee making facilities. Upgraded rooms are available: some add soaking tubs, patios and/or courtyard, canal or garden views. Extra beds and cribs are available upon request. Buffet-style breakfast is complimentary and a trendy bar, which has mood lighting, serves lunches and snacks. Bike rentals are available. (Address: Keizersgracht 15, 1015 CC Amsterdam, Netherlands)

What to do in Amsterdam  

We're doing an evening canal tour   before we do some clubbin' Amsterdam-style  .

What's up everyone? Goedenavond! Hello Amsterdam! Today's one of those weird days...the kind of day that happens after you write a blog entry for the first time in two months and suddenly everyone thinks you're gonna go back to blogging damn near every day. I was convinced that I'd at least write another entry; I'd told myself this on multiple occasions today, and was even positive I'd do it this afternoon. And then I went out for a bit, came home, and I had nothin'. Well, I had all the intent one could possibly have, but I felt a huge cultural and phonic void. Some days the words come to you freely and you don't know where to put them all, and other days you feel so compelled to over-organize something that simply doesn't exist, ya know?

So needless to say, today has been a slight struggle. I'm not in a bad mood by any means; quite the opposite actually. I've had some focus and distraction   issues, but it's a good problem to have. I just wish I would've been able to figure out what to say like four hours ago, because I would've been done with this entry by now.

Now, onward to today's adventure!

It's a special day you guys- well, they're all special, but today is really special. See, NaNoKit was born in the Netherlands, so this part of the journey involves somewhat of a homecoming for her. It's always nice when things between two people progress from "Who's gonna sleep on the floor tonight?" to "What kind of cheeses should we get?", because that's when you know things are starting to get serious.

So, a little nervous anticipation last night gave way to full-blown excitement this morning. You could almost see the little girl in her eyes as she began to reminisce about what it was like for her back in the day, and how the adult in her was longing to make the little girl smile and shine. Ever feel so happy for someone that you have no idea how to react to it? It's like walking into an ice cream shop and asking for a cone with one scoop each of all the flavors they have on it, and those scoops are all the things you wanna do, and you're just trying not to drop the thing and you wanna lick each flavor and make sure you taste everything before it melts. Wow, that's one of the weirdest analogies I think I've ever used before .

Anyway, we all hopped aboard a train (9am Lyn's a Witchy Woman ?? How generous .) like we weren't still lit up from last night's festivities hoping that the two hours would come sooner than later. Schnujo's Doing NaNoWriMo? and Sally were across from us, SB Musing and Creeper Of The Realm were diagonally in front, and Jellyfish in Morocco and Spacecat were behind. Kind of a quiet ride, with a few murmurs and stifled giggling here and there about my kickass dance moves and Spacecat 's brothel experience incident that shall remain unmentioned, and Princess Megan Snow Rose was on her cell phone making plans to meet up with Daniko once we busted into the station. I think most of us were just glad no one got arrested, and we all made it through last night with all of our body parts still intact.

We pulled in and headed for Hotel Sebastian's, which is fly as hell for one of these kinds of places. I'd like to know who assigned NaNoKit and I the room with the crib though...y'all think it's funny? I just look at it as something to overturn and make a double-decker pillow fortress with . After dumping our stuff off we opted to do the thing we're second-bast at: skipping the bike tour.

SB Musing and SandraLynn wanted to go to the Van Gogh Museum, so we tagged along. I was awestruck at his painting   of one of the gay dads from the TV show Modern Family  ...only a true visionary artist could pull that off with such detail.

After taking in the wonder that encompassed all of Van Gogh's life, I found myself unable to contain a little excitement of my own. I excused myself and NaNoKit from our group and whisked us over to a waiting car that had been hired to take us to Madurodam  ...all you prima kerels out there reading this who wanna impress your ladies, pay attention. You wanna do what I did, and take her to the Madurodam Cheese Market  . I'll bet you didn't even know Holland has been making cheese since the year zero (which I didn't know was an actual year but I saw it on the internet so it must be true), or that they produce 750 million kilos of cheese each year, which has a street value of a lot. We ate so much damn cheese, I was tempted to ask for a hollowed-out wax wheel to have us rolled back to the rest of our group.

The next part of the day was almost the best, because we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum   with SB Musing , Sally , and Princess Megan Snow Rose with Daniko, and it gave me a chance to blow off some boyish energy   that I was unable to yesterday at the Miniatur Wunderland. I thought I would've been the one to nearly have us politely asked to not return, but Princess Megan Snow Rose was a little too friendly with the Captain Jack Sparrow   statue, to the point that Daniko thought he was gonna have to defend his lady's honor and melt his weird facial hair off. It's always a good day when I'm not the one getting us all in trouble, and everyone's talking about someone else for a change .

On the way out NaNoKit was like "But I wanna see if they have an Axl Rose figure!" and security was like "Maybe you should've told your friend's friend to not be a jerk to The Captain!" but I was like "Don't worry sweetheart, I saw online that he's not here, but I know where we can find the next best thing..." and had to reassure her several times over that it was not, in fact, a waxed-up version of Kylie Minogue's ass. She was just gonna hafta trust me on this...happiness is just a purchase away!

I remember seeing a little hobby and collectibles shop around the corner from Madame Tussaud's, so I followed my hunch and led us inside. Took me a few minutes to find exactly what I was looking for, because I didn't want to spoil my surprise by asking for help because I couldn't read most of the signs or packages. But after using some clues from context and paying attention, I was able to find what I came in for.

It may not have been a full-sized replica of Axl, but he was way more naked than Kylie was. I thought it'd be the perfect souvenir of our time together in Amsterdam...and for her, it was. Mine came right before dinner, as we shared some quiet time enjoying the sights and sounds of the Canal Ring before taking the tour with everyone else.

When deciding on where we might want to hang out after, we decided to go to Supperclub   because it just seemed like the kind of place where everyone could do their own thing or in groups...there was dancing, dining, and even some exhibits and gallery space. NaNoKit and I decided to eat right away, while SB Musing , Spacecat and Jellyfish in Morocco headed straight for the dance floor. The meal was fantastic and well-prepared, and by the time we caught up with everyone else in the club, it seemed as though they'd been well-prepared too .

All in all, another fun-filled, exciting day as the romp through Europe continues. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

"Wax Ecstatic"   -Sponge

"When life is nothing less than tragic, it's Wax Ecstatic.
When life has lost all its magic, it's Wax Ecstatic."